- Allan Saint-Maximin has failed to win the trust of Mourinho since joining on loan
- Mourinho claimed the Frenchman hasn’t worked hard enough and is overweight
- LISTEN NOW: It’s All Kicking Off! With the Premier League likely securing five Champions League spots, are we rewarding mediocrity?
Jose Mourinho has clashed with Fenerbahce winger Allan Saint-Maximin after the Portuguese’s decision to leave him out of their travelling Europa League squad.
The Turkish giants are tasked with overturning a 3-1 deficit to Rangers from the first leg at Ibrox but they will do so without the tricky forward, who has not played in the last five league matches.
The omission has resulted in an extraordinary war of words between player and coach, with the former Newcastle star taking to social media to air his grievance on Wednesday.
‘It will take more than this to defeat me,’ he wrote on Instagram. ‘When a lie takes the elevator, the truth takes the stairs. It takes longer but it always arrives in the end. If God is with us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31.’
The 28-year-old, currently on loan from Saudi Pro League outfit Al Hilal, did not have to wait long for a response from his quick-witted boss.
Mourinho mocked Saint-Maximin’s social media post and laid bare the reasons for his exclusion, which included the player being overweight.
Fenerbahce winger Allan Saint-Maximin has gone to war with his manager after his most recent exclusion from a matchday squad
Jose Mourinho mocked the 28-year-old poetry skills and revealed the reasons for his omission
Saint-Maximin had a second bite at his manager after Mourinho’s jibe and wrote ‘lies produce flowers but not fruit’
Fenerbahce are tasked with overturning a 3-1 deficit from the first leg against Rangers at Ibrox
‘I didn’t know Saint-Maximin was talented in poetry,’ said Mourinho. ‘I’m not bad in that regard either. When a football player works well, works hard, trains every day, he is fit and can climb the stairs. He doesn’t need an elevator.
‘However, if a player doesn’t train well, arrives late, is overweight, is not ready to play, he needs an elevator to go up. Because he gets tired quickly on the stairs.’
Remarkably, Saint-Maximin decided to have another bite at his manager after his response and rubbished the claims of the former Chelsea and Real Madrid boss.
‘Lies produce flowers but not fruit,’ he commented alongside his current weight, and that of previous years.
Mourinho has always been unafraid to point the blame at players within his squad he deems to be falling short of his lofty expectations. Manchester United fans will remember his treatment of Luke Shaw during his time at Old Trafford.
The Portuguese’s harsh words to then-Tottenham midfielder Dele Alli were also made infamous on the Amazon Prime show All or Nothing: Tottenham Hotspur.
Just last week, following the shock first-leg defeat by the Gers in Istanbul, Mourinho took aim at his star players for not performing on the night.
‘There is, I think, a penalty but to speak about referees after this performance I don’t think is ethical,’ he said. ‘Our performance was bad overall.
‘Defensively we made incredible mistakes. They defend a lot with a very low block and then dangerous counters and we had no pace to follow that. I have to say that we deserved a punishment of this result. If someone wants to ask me if it’s over, no, I don’t think it’s over.’
